Game ignores backed up custom lords and Lords/Info.txt file

[PlutonArioch]

Required​

Summary​

Game ignores backed up custom lords and Lords/Info.txt file

Description​

I tried to back up my custom factions, in "Steam/userdata/[ID]/1669000/remote/Lords/Lords". I left two of them there. Upon restarting the game, the List only contained those two. Then I tried putting the backed up files back into place, but the game did not fill the custom list again. Instead it filled the folder with empty files (filled with zeroes) with the same name as the Lord files, except with the file ending ".DELD" instead of ".AOWL". Which I assume stands for "DELETED". So, I guess the game noticed the files were gone the last time it started, and marked them as deleted when I put them back?
I removed all the .DELD files, because I assumed those would block the game from loading the .AOWL files.
I manually copied the contents of the backed up Info.txt into the newly created one. But now every time I start the game it tries to overwrite the present Info.txt with one that contains only the two rulers I left the first time. I can create a new ruler and add it, but the ones whose files I backed up stay gone.

So if this is not the place where the game stores the information on custom lords, then where is that actually stored?
Are we not allowed to back up and restore or share custom lords? If so why?

- I do not use Steam Cloud.
- I tried verifying game files.
- I tried restarting Steam (which seems to work to load Saves that are not showing up, but no dice here)
- I tried both the current beta and live versions.
- I tried making the "Info.txt" read-only, which gives me a prompt in game "Ruler data has failed to save. Try again?" which creates a Info.txt.stmp file in the same folder, containing the shortened list.
Why is the game trying to save in this file, but does not seem to try and read it first? And where does it get the list from, if not this file?
- I tried deleting Steams cache
- I tried removing all entries of a file ending in ".DELD" from Steams "remotecache.vdf" file (289 entries). It just gets restored as well.
- I tried changing the name of some lord files hoping that the game would register them as new files that were not invisibly marked as deleted.
- I tried all of the above also with Steam in offline mode.

I remember having a similar issue shortly after the game released, when I tried to copy my saves, realms, and rulers from one PC to another. Eventually they just showed up in game again, but I don't know how, and I thought this was resolved. But it seems it is not.

Why can the game not simply try and load the files that are there?
Do we really have to manually remake every single ruler if something goes wrong with the files once, even if we have a backup?

Steps to reproduce​

- Create a bunch of custom lords
- Move them to a backup location
- Run the game
- Open custom rulers list
- Quit the game
- Restore the backup
- Run the game again
- Check custom rulers
- Check the folders, and Info.txt file

Platform​

Steam

Game Version​

v1.010.002.106555

Owned DLCs​

• Dragon Dawn
• Empires and Ashes
• Primal Fury
• Eldritch Realms
• Herald of Glory
• Ways of War
• Giant Kings

Optional​

Affected Feature​

• Rulers

Attachments​

 

[Triumph Jordi]

Hi PlutonArioch, thank you for reaching out. What you are trying to do is not supported by steam. Steam handles all save data management and does not allow modifications from outside of the Steam Environment. If you want to backup your save/game data you should use your platform specific backup/cloud system.

 

[PlutonArioch]

Hi PlutonArioch, thank you for reaching out. What you are trying to do is not supported by steam. Steam handles all save data management and does not allow modifications from outside of the Steam Environment. If you want to backup your save/game data you should use your platform specific backup/cloud system.

So what does that mean? The files are just for decoration? Where does Steam save the actual data then? Every other game that lets Steam mange the saves, just saves the actual files in the remote folder, and that is it. If the data is not in that folder, it wont get backed up by Steam either as far as I know. Is that wrong?
As I see it, all the game needs is to read the Info.txt that is in the Lords folder to get the list of files to load, or just load all the files present in the folder. Instead it gets that info from somewhere else, and that "somewhere else" does not look in the folder to update its info.

I do not want to use Steam Cloud, as it always causes problems in different games, syncs settings between PCs with different hardware so I have to redo the settings every time I play on a different PC, and takes a long time to sync despite my fast internet connection for a service that I don't actually need. I prefer to keep settings and saves separate between PCs, and copy those that I want on both manually. Manually copying files works with every other game - so much for "Steam does not allow it".

A partial or failed sync would also do the same thing (and that happened more than once when I tried to use Steam Cloud), so there should be some way to restore the data in the game after the files were not present for one launch of the game.

The actual purpose of this experiment was to store the custom lords in different folders so I could switch out the set available in game, since we don't have any way to differentiate them in game. So I can't tell the game to not use the ones that are made with mods, or those that I don't want to be played by AI because I have specific lore for them in mind which the AI will guaranteed not follow, or those that are just unfinished ideas with dumb names and work in progress notes in the description.
So, that I could switch to a folder with exclusively finished factions that are made to be played by the AI, and maybe with a theme in mind, to fill a world with a random selection of fitting AI factions, by allowing custom rulers. So far I have only allowed that for test games, and exclusively play with generated rulers because I can't exclude those custom ones I don't want to appear.
Steam Cloud won't allow me to do any of that either.

I have done the same in Planetfall too. So at one point in the past it was possible for this games engine to just load the info.txt out of the appropriate folder.

So now 95 custom factions are just gone for good, despite all their data being in the right folder and unmodified?

 

[PlutonArioch]

So today two of the lords where I changed the filename/ID by one number reappeared in the list. Listed in the Info.txt with the changed filename. So at some point something, either Steam or the game, IS checking the folder for files not on the list, and adds them. What it needs is a mechanism to tell that program that the files are ALL supposed to be on the list (which adding them to the list should do) and to just add them all. Under new IDs if that is necessary.

Maybe an "Import Lord" function in game, which could also allow us to simply share custom factions with our friends, without writing a step by step guide on how to remake it. It could check the ID against the list of "deleted" lords, and provide a new ID if it is on the list as a fallback. What is the harm in loading unascended custom factions from disk anyways? Why the tight security on custom factions?

Or let us know what triggers this behaviour where files with unknown IDs are simply added, or let us trigger it on purpose. Manually changing the ID of every file can be tedious but it is better than losing all of it and starting from scratch if something goes wrong.

2 are back, 91 to go. I would like to know if there is any other way, before manually changing 91 filenames, or rather writing a script to do it, and then wait for days until the game randomly decides to check the files again.